Ken Ham
Ken Ham NOTES: The quote below from AIG was removed by them without explanation. They don't say anything about the tautology argument in their present revision. If they have changed their view on this issue, they must state why. http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/arguments-we-dont-use :“Natural selection is a tautology.” Natural selection is in one sense a tautology. Who are the fittest? Those who survive and leave the most offspring. Who survive and leave the most offspring? The fittest. But a lot of this is semantic wordplay, and depends on how the matter is defined, and for what purpose the definition is raised. There are many areas of life in which circularity and truth go hand in hand. For example, what is electric charge? That quality of matter on which an electric field acts. What is an electric field? A region in space that exerts a force on electric charge. But no one would claim that the theory of electricity is thereby invalid and can’t explain how motors work; it is only that circularity cannot be used as independent proof of something. To harp on the issue of tautology can become misleading, if the impression is given that something tautological therefore doesn’t happen. Of course the environment can “select,” just as human breeders select. But demonstrating this doesn’t mean that fish could turn into philosophers by this means. The real issue is the nature of the variation, the information problem. Arguments about tautology distract attention from one of the real weaknesses of neo-Darwinism—the source of the new information required. Given an appropriate source of variation (for example, an abundance of created genetic information with the capacity for Mendelian recombination), replicating populations of organisms would be expected to be capable of some adaptation to a given environment, and this has been demonstrated amply in practice. As quoted by http://www.physforum.com/index.php?s=291055ca402bbb50ee67b8933f80d5da&showtopic=6572&st=15 in 2006 http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n3/antibiotic-resistance-of-bacteria This article formulates meaningless sentences. Notes NOTEs: V=IR is a falsifiable proposition. It states that to force the same amount of charge through a larger resistance a larger voltage force field is needed. An electric field exerts a force on an electric charge proportional to the product of the charge(I) and resistance®. This doesn't state the same thing twice. V=IR is a theory of electricity and thus not fallacious as the proposition can be tested. Notes 2 > mechanical advantage: force-amplifying effectiveness of a simple > machine, such as a lever, an inclined plane, a wedge, a wheel and > axle, a pulley system, or a jackscrew. The theoretical mechanical > advantage of a system is the ratio of the force that performs the > useful work to the force applied, assuming there is no friction in the > system. In practice, the actual mechanical advantage will be less than > the theoretical value by an amount determined by the amount of > friction. Same confusion that Ken Ham AiG has over tautologies. http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Ken_Ham Walter Remine said ..... tautologies are at their most dangerous when they go unnoticed , we must therefore plug in the definitions to unmask them.... Because tautologies induces ones thinking into an infinite regress, a wall of arguments is constructed around it by people(who don't grasp the tautology) with conflicting world views such Ken Ham , ID and Atheist, allowing them to hold endless conferences, build dinosaur adventure lands and make money selling books to their particular audience etc. http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Aristotle constructed his argument in such a way that it can't be refuted nor verified under any condition past,present and future under any new knowledge such as information theory,genes etc. Darwin quoted the passage and wrote :.... we can see here the principle of natural selection shadowed forth .... Their arguments are futile because as Phillip Johnson(http://talebooks.com/images/bs/291.pdf) argued in his book Darwin on Trail that there is nothing to refute or discuss if the entire argument reduces to a tautology. The fatal mistake that ID, Aig make is providing the evolutionist Epicureans with a falsifiable statement: '' ...... Natural selection does not cause information increase, only decrease...... If something is falsifiable then one can construct endless arguments in an attempt to falsify it. Like with Newtons laws of motion, Quantum theory; which because these theorems are falsifiable have led to very useful theories generating benefits for society. Information theory itself is so vast in its scope that endless papers can now be produced in an attempt to falsify the ID, Aig position. The Apostle Paul made it ''Streng Verboten to make money out of the Gospel or charge people fees as Ken Ham is doing with his Dino Land. Christianity does not need gimmicks or dino parks to spread its consoling message that everything was created by the Lord Jesus 6000 years ago out of nothing. What is needed is for people to understand than when an oxymoron is used non-metaphorically it is a sign of mental illness. The problem we face today was described by John D. Brey in his book : http://books.google.co.za/books/about/Tautological_Oxymorons.html?id=FbskROEIji0C&redir_esc=y Links Physics equations aren't tautologies Category:TauTology